


The Sharing

by LoricFool



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, I Am Number Four (2011), The Lorien Legacies - All Media Types, The Lorien Legacies - Pittacus Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27720068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoricFool/pseuds/LoricFool
Summary: An ill-considered trip to the Yeerk Pool happens (fortunately) to coincide with a chaotic rampage. Or, in which Henri does something reckless and Four and the Animorphs save him
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. John

**Author's Note:**

> This is a two-shot. The first chapter is from John's POV, second from Cassie's. There's no real plotty stuff in here, I just wanted to orchestrate a meeting of the characters. There's no reason I could be bothered coming up with as to why the Animorphs are in the Yeerk Pool, but, well, enjoy. Stretching believability with the disguises thing, but that sorta fits with the Animorphs series anyway.

"What the-?!" A wolf leaps in front of me, snarling. A wolf, in a giant underground cavern full of aliens. I stop moving and glance over the menacing canine. There are other animals amid the extraterrestrial circus, but I ignore them in favour of finding Henri. The Yeerks cannot get him. They mustn't.  
  
A growl sounds from behind me, and I follow the wolf's gaze to Bernie Kosar. He shouldn't have followed me here. The damn dog will get himself killed. A commotion near the cages of despairing people attracts my attention. Henri's there, and he's got three cage doors open and had been working on the next when he’s approached by Hork-Bajir waving their blades about threateningly. Henri ducks and tosses the keys simultaneously, distracting the seven-foot-tall monsters and darts between them. One goes down with the flash of Henri’s knife, and the other stumbles over its fellow soldier.  
  
"Henri!" I scream and start running. I guess the Yeerks are too busy focussing their attention on the wild animals because no one gets in my way. Instead, they move past me, converging on the wolf behind me. BK follows at my heels, dodging swipes from bladed wrists.  
  
I'm not supposed to use my Legacies, not even supposed to be here, because the Yeerks will join the hunt for me if they discover my existence. But Henri started this mess, and I need to get him out. My hood is pulled far over my face to hide my identity, but I’ve slipped up once by shouting Henri’s name out.  
  
The cavern is an obstacle course of teeth, claws, blades and weapon fire. A huge worm runs across my path charging into battle against a tiger and an elephant. It obscures my view of Henri only for seconds, but when I get a glimpse of him again he’s being held firmly by the arms by two Hork-Bajir, blood seeping through his shirt in several places. His face is set in a grimace as he struggles against his captors.  
  
<DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE! ALL THE HOSTS ARE TO BE DEAD OR BACK IN THEIR CAGES, AND I WANT THE ANDALITE BANDITS BROUGHT TO ME!> I jump as a thunderous voice screams across the cavern. It’s only after I’ve clapped my hands to my ears that I realise it’s inside my mind.  
  
I haven’t slowed down, still dodging around the Yeerks on my way to Henri. I can see one of his arms isn’t working as it should and there’s a nasty cut on his cheek. He catches sight of me and his eyes widen briefly with accusation before he jerked his head at the bladed giant holding his working arm. I don’t hesitate and as I cover the last few yards between us, I leap into a tackle. The Hork-Bajir lets go of Henri in surprise before my momentum drags it to the ground. It crosses its arms between us, making a wall of blades before trying to strike out. BK appears at my side and catches a flying wrist with his teeth and holds on. I manage to catch the other just as its tail whips up and catches me across the back. I punch it in the head hard enough to put it to sleep for a while.  
  
Standing up, I grab Henri just as he starts to stumble. He’s dispatched the other Hork-Bajir with his knife. I’m relieved to see that his hat hasn’t moved much and still covers the top half of his face. Pulling his uninjured arm over my shoulder, I grab the knife.  
  
A yelp pulls my attention downwards, expecting to see BK, but it’s the wolf now with an ear missing. It leaps up at the Hork-Bajir that attacked it and wraps its jaws around its throat. A stray bolt from the Yeerks’ weapons hits a Taxxon nearby, leaving a smouldering hole in the alien’s body. In a horrifying frenzy, its brethren descend upon it, hungry mouths working.  
  
Henri uses the arm around my shoulders to point me towards the little Earth zoo backing towards a set of steps. “We need to get there. Stay close to the wolf,” he mutters in my ear as we stumble along through the mayhem. Bernie Kosar attacks any Taxxon that gets too close, puncturing the giant balloon worms with his teeth and setting them upon themselves. He gags and wheezes at the acrid juices between bites. The wolf is still ahead of us, clearing a path of destruction.  
  
Henri is slowing down, his wounds becoming more evident. His limp is getting more pronounced and he’s leaning more heavily on me. We make it around the gorilla and the wolf fills the gap behind us, guarding the sad rush of free people escaping the hellish cavern.  
  
<STOP THEM!>That voice again, erupting in my mind.  
  
"BK!" I summon, pulling the beagle away from his maiming. I glance back to make sure he’s following and my stomach drops at the sight of growing, bubbling flesh making its way towards us. I turn back and increase my pace. We're out of the main cavern now, but the seemingly endless stairs keep leading upwards. I stop to pull Henri fully onto my back, despite my own cuts, and we continue up the stairs at a faster pace. I notice BK has a jagged wound on his shoulder, but he’s keeping a good pace. The escaped prisoners are scattered above us.  
  
Suddenly it seems like we're being escorted out by the tiger and wolf and a blue centaur-like creature which I can only assume is an Andalite, based on Henri's description, and a hawk flying overhead. We finally reach a door at the top of the steps and bundle through it.  
  
We've exited the Yeerk pool a different way to how we came in. There's darkness around, but following the stream of people, I can see that we're in a department store change room. Henri is getting heavier and heavier. I'm not sure he's even conscious still. There's not much I can do for him, but I lie him down on the floor in a corner of the store. His blood streaks the carpet beneath him. BK lies next to him and rests his head on Henri’s chest. I can hear the other people looking for a way out, and as their noises get more distant I’d guess they found one.  
  
I tug some clothes off a rack nearby and start to make temporary bandages. Henri’s still conscious but he’s gritting his teeth, trying to stay quiet while pointing me to the worst of his wounds. I start with his arm and try to bind the deep gash, but we’ve never really focused on first aid in our training. The cut on his thigh is easier to wrap but also more worrying as it’s still strongly pushing blood out. A dark-skinned girl I vaguely remember seeing at school kneels beside me and starts talking calmingly as she gently pries the fabric from my shaking hands and begins to wrap Henri’s injuries properly. I’m not paying any attention to what she’s saying, my ears are buzzing and everything sounds like it’s underwater. I’m staring at the blood covering my hands as a stranger takes care of the only person who matters to me. I’ve vaguely registered that I’m in shock, and it takes Henri’s strong grip on my hand to pull me back to reality.  
  
"Thank you," I whisper to the girl next to me. I see her nod with a sad smile from the corner of my eye.  
  
"That was brave, what you did in there. A lot of people owe you their freedom,” she whispers, looking at Henri. “He’ll need to go to a hospital,” she says to me. “And don’t do that again. You’ll get killed.” She looks between us. I look up finally to meet her eye and nod.  
  
“Thank you,” Henri offers her his best attempt at a smile. She finishes wrapping her final bandage around BK’s shoulder and gives him a pat on the head. Offering a last twist of her lips, she disappeared back into the dark of the store.  
  
My skin still feels like an anthill is crawling around under the surface, but I stand up anyway and gently pull Henri to his feet.  
  
“We need to get home as quick as we can. It won’t be long before they come up through here,” Henri mutters lowly beside me as he slings his arm back over my shoulders.  
  
“Well the truck’s back at the Sharing, do you know how to get there from here? You’re not going to last long if we’re walking anywhere.”  
  
“Major bus route will get us close. Should still be operating this late.”  
  
We stagger our way out the emergency exits to the deserted car park. When we get to the bus stop we’re in luck and the next service arrives in three minutes. Twelve minutes later, Henri’s looking even paler as we climb into the truck.  
  
“We’re talking about this later,” I state as he pulls out of the lot and we head home.  
  
“We will. Hey, John?” There’s a pause, and I look at him. “Thanks kiddo.” I pull my mouth into a half-smile.  
  
“Anytime.”  
  
We trample through the door, me half-dragging Henri. I deposit him on his bed then make my way to my own. Our clothes are still covered in blood, and tomorrow morning they’ll be stiff, but I can’t quite care right now. BK settles down beside my bed and we’re both asleep in seconds.

  



	2. Cassie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie's POV of the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer than the last chapter. Set sometime after the events of book #8, references made. Yeah I know that the previous chapter was present tense and this one is past tense. Don't really have an excuse :)

It was just another suicide mission. One we seemed doomed to repeat time and time again. Attack the Yeerk Pool, wreak havoc for half an hour, then haul butt. Usually though, we don’t have help. We’d been rampaging for barely five minutes before some guy, face hidden by a low hat, strode in, looking calm, but I could smell the anxiety rolling off him. Wolf nose and all.  
  
He’d casually walked into the cafeteria for the voluntary hosts and reemerged with a set of keys, and headed to the cages. I almost forgot about the fight around me as this guy opened the door and moved on to the next. The prisoners fled, which caught the attention of the Hork-Bajir we were fighting. The guy noticed his cover is blown and sped up his progress.  
  
<Anyone know who hat ninja guy is?> Honestly, it was something Marco would have called him, but I had no idea how else to describe him. He’d just strolled in here and started setting prisoners free. As an answer, I got various versions of ‘no’.  
  
<We’ve got to help them get out of here. If we can convince the people to act like everything’s normal, maybe it won’t happen like it did last time.> Last time, when we destroyed the Kandrona and Yeerks were dying in their host’s heads. There was a mass execution. The Yeerks wouldn’t allow anyone who knew about them to live.  
  
There was a beat of silence in my head. Screams, roars, growls, and trumpeting filled space of the massive cavern as we continued fighting the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, dodging the Dracon Beams shot from afar.  
  
<Ax, what are the chances of that working?> Jake asked hesitantly.  
  
Another pause. <It is unlikely that any large percentage of the hosts will survive. We do not know how far the Yeerks have spread, so even if we instructed them to leave immediately the Yeerks may still track them down. I believe they would be far likelier to survive if they remain here.> Ax replied solemnly.  
  
<I’m going to help the ‘hat ninja guy’,> Marco butted in. I cringed as he adopted my description. Footsteps echoing down the corridor to the Sharing caught my attention.  
  
<Ax, go with him. Both of you, give them all the choice. We’ll back them up and get as many as we can out, but they have to run and never look back. Or they can stay here and get back in their cages to live for another day.> His voice sounded hollow as he slashed at a Hork-Bajir. <Tobias, eyes on the hat. Rachel, you and I are going to try to make a path to get out of here.>  
  
<Yes, Prince Jake,> Ax responded.  
  
<Don’t call me Prince,> was Jake’s reflex response.  
  
<On it,> Tobias said. I returned my focus outwards again, and there in front of me was the new kid, John or something. I snarled at him, not quite prepared to attack someone I would see every day. I felt sorry for him. He’d just moved here, and was already a slave to the Yeerks. Of course, the only reason I saw his face was because I was looking up at him. His head was covered by a hood, pulled low. Why would he be covering who he is down here? Maybe it’s just his fashion.  
  
“What the-?!” Then again, maybe not. He smelled of confusion and worry, and a bit of fear. But he hadn’t hissed ‘Andalite’ when he saw me and was looking around, searching. A different smell turned my attention behind him, lower to the ground. A beagle was there, growling menacingly at me. That was strange. I didn’t think the Yeerks ever had animals, not even pets, down here.  
  
“Henri!” Then he was suddenly no longer in front of me. The beagle watched me for a moment before he followed the new kid. As he passed me, I caught a wisp of a strange smell that was gone just as quickly. Baffled, I turned to an obvious enemy. I watched the new kid’s progress out of the corner of my eye.  
  
<Guys, the new kid from school’s here, and it looks like he’s on ‘hat ninja guy’s’ side,> I warned them all. Jake and Marco’s reactions were almost instantaneous.  
  
<John? What the hell? Is he insane? He’s going to die! Or worse!> Marco.  
  
<Cassie, watch him. Make sure he doesn’t.> Jake ordered. I continued tearing through the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons between him and me. He was fast and brave, I’d give him that. Maybe he was just stupid though. My lip curled as Visser Three’s harsh thoughtspeak entered my mind.  
  
<DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE! ALL THE HOSTS ARE TO BE DEAD OR BACK IN THEIR CAGES, AND I WANT THE ANDALITE BANDITS BROUGHT TO ME!> He’d assumed it was us who’d opened the cages. Which meant this ‘Henri’ and John had more chance of escaping unidentified, hoping that no-one had noticed John’s yell earlier.  
  
<Guy in the hat is being dragged away by a couple of Hork-Bajir,> Tobias reported.  
  
At the Visser’s arrival, some of the freed hosts had scrambled back towards the cages with their hands up. There were still about a dozen people huddled behind Ax’s flashing tail blade and Marco’s ham-sized fists, the whole group slowly heading towards one of the exits.  
  
<I’m almost there.> I’d managed to almost catch up to John now, but he’d not slowed down. He kept charging ahead and unbelievably took a leap and tackled one of the Hork-Bajir off his associate. I barely hesitated in attacking the other, clamping my jaws on its leg. Henri, half-freed, pulled something from his waistband and with a flash of metal my Hork-Bajir hit the ground. With a wild look in his eyes, amplified by the blood trickling down his shadowed face, Henri nodded to me then turned to John. The beagle had its teeth buried in the Hork-Bajir’s arm, and I watched as John knocked the alien reptile out with a punch to the head.  
  
Climbing up from his fallen opponent, John pulled Henri’s arm over his shoulders to support him. I could see now that it was a knife that Henri had. John grabbed it with his free hand.  
  
More Controllers were moving towards us, some with Dracon beams firing. I yelped as one of my ears was sliced off by a Hork-Bajir. Moments later he was down and out of the fight. An unfortunate Taxxon caught a stray shot and was quickly consumed by its brothers. As we were moving towards the exit the others had created, the beagle ripped through any Taxxon that got close enough, halting the progress of all the other worms in the vicinity as they feasted.  
  
<Coming your way,> I informed the group.  
  
<Good. Everyone, pull back and close off the escape. Don’t let the Yeerks past you,> Jake instructed. We cut through the Yeerks, heading for the exit. I joined my friends as John and Henri hobbled past. We formed a line of bloody, injured animals, growling and trumpeting in defiance. More Dracon beams were fired. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Still no Hork-Bajir or Taxxons got past us. Visser Three appeared running into the cavern, his face oozing rage and evil.  
  
<STOP THEM!> He roared, still moving towards us but slowing as he started to morph. He was growing rapidly.  
  
<Time to go,> Jake said tightly. <Rachel and Marco, take the rear and split off out the cinema exit. We need enough of a diversion to get everyone to safety before they follow us. We’ll meet up on the roof.>  
  
We charged up the long flight of stairs and out of the Gap entrance into the dark of the store. Panting and bleeding, we demorphed, relieved at our emerging pain-free bodies. Tobias reported that the nine hosts we’d managed to escort out had left. It was just us and our unexpected allies remaining inside.  
  
The first finished, I moved away from the others. Morphing isn’t pretty. I glanced up at Tobias, perched on a wall rack keeping watch. With only the green glow of the emergency exit lights, Tobias’ hawk eyes can’t see much better than my human ones, but he’s been observing everything while we demorphed.  
  
<They’re over there,> he said, turning his head to the right. <You should be able to hear them soon.> We didn’t have a lot of time. The Yeerks would be following after us very soon. We’d used minutes already demorphing.  
  
I found them on the floor about 50 yards away. There was John, his hands full of cotton shirts he’d pulled off the racks. Some were tied rather poorly around the oozing wounds of the man lying on the ground in front of him, and he was desperately trying to bind the others. His dog was sitting beside him, almost whining in that silent way dogs have.  
  
I knelt down beside him slowly, not wanting to startle him. He and his dog weren’t in great condition either; John had a few gashes and his hands were pretty sliced up. I wasn’t surprised with the way he’d attacked the Hork-Bajir. The dog looks like a Taxxon bit him on the shoulder. I started talking to John quietly, calmly, the way I do to the scared animals in the barn. I took the shirts from his shaking hands and began wrapping them around Henri as efficiently as I could, gently instructing John on where to put his hands.  
  
I could feel the presence of the others, but they hung back, out of sight and silent. Finally, the most obvious wounds were covered. There was a decent amount of deep tissue damage and separated muscle. He’d need a hospital.  
  
John sighed with relief beside me, and the dog licked his face. I started to get up.  
  
"Thank you," John whispered to me. I nod.  
  
"That was brave, what you did in there. A lot of people owe you their freedom,” I whispered, looking at Henri. _I just hope they’re all smart enough to stay alive._ “He’ll need to go to a hospital,” I directed to John. “And don’t do that again. You’ll get killed.” I glance between them. Their faces are tight with pain and exhaustion, but there’s also determination there. John nods his head. Henri smiles and thanks me.  
  
I get up and leave them there. There’s no more I can do for them and I need to get home.  
  
We met up with Rachel and Marco on the roof of the mall, in the quiet and darkness. Together we morph to birds and make our separate ways home.  
  
<Tobias and Ax, starting tomorrow, I want you to keep watch on those two.>  
  
<Yes, Prince Jake.>

  



End file.
